Shield Wars
by Vanguard523
Summary: Montagne, Blitz and Fuze are having an argument and decide to settle once and for all who is the best.


Setting: Team Rainbow training floor, 1000 hours

"So how are we going to do this?" Montagne asked his other shield-bearing teammates, all of them in civilian clothing; Blitz with a dark orange t-shirt and brown sweatpants, still wearing his balaclava to conceal his face while Montagne wore a blue tank top with blue denim jeans and Fuze wearing red combat pants and a red t-shirt.

This was a big rumor that had been going on about who was the best user of the ballistic shield among team rainbow. The GIGN claimed that due to Montagne's ability to act as mobile cover, he was practically invincible while the GSG9 disputed this claim by saying that Blitz's ability to breach into a room, blind enemies and eliminate them made him the greatest. Fuze merely got involved in this argument because he liked to prove himself to the others that there wasn't anything he couldn't do. Even though his shield didn't do anything special, he claimed that the strategy of using the Matryoshka, breaching in and still being able to absorb bullets made him the best.

"We will perform three tests." Fuze began. "One for accuracy; the ability to take down a target while using a shield, one for mobility; how fast one can move while using a shield and a test of placement; how well one person knows where their shield protects them." The Russian explained.

"Ja, sounds good." Blitz said with a nod.

Montagne shrugged. "Sounds good to me, but we should get a judge. Someone who's not from any of our CTU's, someone who isn't biased."

Blitz scratched his chin in thought while Fuze leaned up against the wall next to a set of barbells.

"How about Blackbeard from the navy SEALs?" Montagne offered. The other two men shook their heads.

"Nein. He hates the fact that we have full ballistic shields while he only has a rifle shield." Blitz interjected.

"Not to mention the Americans and Russians do not have the best of relations." Fuze declared.

"Oui, you make a good point." The Frenchman admitted.

"How about Thatcher?" Blitz inquired after a moment of silence. "He's the oldest out of everyone, his country has no bad blood between any of ours and he knows talent when he sees it."

"Sounds great, but you think he'll just do this without any questions?" Fuze asked in disbelief.

Blitz was already heading towards the SAS quarters when he turned around to answer the question. "Of course not! He loves seeing others get put through training!" The German said with a smirk underneath his balaclava.

Montagne chuckled and smiled as he followed. "He does love seeing us get hurt, mon ami."

Fuze merely shook his head and let the ghost of a smile grace his lips. "Idiots. I'm on a team filled with idiots." He mumbled.

The three shield users gathered in front of the door to the SAS quarters and knocked. The one to answer the door was Mute dressed in a blue t-shirt with the union jack emblazoned on the front and white shorts, who when he recognized the face of Fuze, paled slightly.

"Look man, if this is about the charges, I told you, I was just really bored and needed something to do! Blitz even had a hand in it!" The British prankster said with hands raised defensively.

Fuze clenched his teeth at the memory of the alterations made to his cluster charges. Purple and pink confetti instead of grenades, done right in front of everyone from Team Rainbow no less! "Mute, I will give you one warning. Never. Bring. That. Up. Again." He drawled out. "You are just lucky I didn't catch you otherwise you'd be in the infirmary from a broken spine." He said threateningly.

Mute swallowed out of discomfort and nodded. "Anyway, why are you guys here this time of day?"

"Looking for Thatcher." Blitz replied.

"Oh. Mike's out by the firing range."

"Danke." The German said.

"Merci." Montagne added, walking beside Blitz as they headed towards the range.

Fuze waited until the others were out of hearing range before he grabbed Mute by the collar of his shirt with one hand and slammed him against the wall. "Mess with me again and it'll be the last thing you ever do." He deadpanned. "Understood?"

Mute nodded quickly. "Got it!"

"Good." With that, he walked behind the other shield users, chatting idly.

Mute leaned against the door of the SAS quarters and caught his breath. "Note to self: listen to Seamus more often." He mumbled.

Thatcher was practicing firing his AR33 and switching between his P226, determined to shorten the length of time between weapon swaps when he heard footsteps behind him. After emptying a full magazine from both weapons into the paper target, he turned to see 'team wall' as he called them staring at him intently.

"Something you lads want or you just here to admire the skill?" He asked, reloading the assault rifle.

"Actually Thatcher, we were hoping that you could judge a competition for us." Fuze stated.

The old veteran scoffed and cocked the weapon. "'Less it's a beauty contest between the girls, you're wasting your time."

"Even if it meant you might see one of us get hurt?" Blitz asked with a smirk while the other two sighed and shook their heads in unison.

To the surprise of the other Frenchman and Russian, Thatcher slowly lowered his weapon from the target and put the safety on. "When and where?" He asked.

"Right now, starting here." Blitz replied.

Thatcher placed the assault rifle and sidearm on a nearby weapons bench and walked out of the firing range. "Well, come on lads, let's get goin'!"

"Why did that work?" Fuze whispered to Montagne, who merely shrugged in response.

"Maybe Blitz has been taking psychology lessons?" He offered.

The three men dressed in their usual combat gear for safety reasons and grabbed each of their shields before meeting back in the firing range, where Thatcher had set up three paper targets fifty metres away.

"Alright, here are the rules, each of you has three rounds in your pistols and you must perform a kill shot within five seconds which entails either two rounds to the chest or one to the head. If two of you manage to kill the target, I will check which one of you fired closest to the vital organs and declare them the winner. Understood?" Thatcher asked with a stopwatch in hand. All three men nodded. "Good, now shields up and wait for my go." They propped up their shields and aimed down range, waiting for the order to fire.

"Now!" He yelled. Immediately, Blitz and Montagne put three rounds into the target, two in the chest and a third in the neck while Fuze pressed the button to detonate a cluster charge which launched five grenades at his target from the ceiling of the firing range, decimating the target.

After a few seconds of shocked silence, Thatcher spoke up. "Fuze wins." He declared simply, making the Russian smirk.

"B-but that doesn't count!" Blitz objected.

"Agreed! You said to shoot the target, not blow it up!" Montagne agreed.

"No, I said you had to **kill** the target. Fuze did exactly that about five times over." Thatcher pointed out.

"Bullshit!" Blitz yelled.

"Just let it go, we'll get him on the next challenge." Montagne said, glaring at a still smirking Fuze.

They regrouped outside and after the Russian man had apologized for putting a hole in the base's firing range ceiling, listened to Thatcher's instructions.

"Okay, next up is mobility. The objective here is to make your way from this marker…" He pointed to an orange cone that marked the starting line where they were lined up, Fuze on the left, Blitz in the middle and Montagne on the right. "To the other marker measured to be a hundred meters away with your shields and guns in hand. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Okay then, on my go…"

The three men took their marks and made ready to sprint as fast as possible to the end.

"3…" Montagne shot another look at Fuze, still angry at the fact that he had cheated.

"2…" Fuze looked back at the Frenchman and smiled widely, knowing that it would annoy him further.

"1…" Blitz took a deep breath and readied himself for the run.

"Go!" Blitz immediately activated the flash feature on his shield, blinding and disorienting his Russian cohort before he did the same to Montagne, causing the two to stumble around for about six seconds while Blitz was already just about halfway finished the race.

When the effects of the flash shield had finally worn off, Montagne and Fuze stumbled forward blindly, hoping to make some progress over the other, but it was in vain as Blitz reached the end marker.

"Sorry guys, Blitz wins." Thatcher declared, trying to hold back a laugh.

"That wasn't fair, he blinded us!" Fuze objected.

"How is that any different than you using a cluster charge to eliminate a target?" Montagne growled back.

"He's got a point, Rusky." Thatcher said with a shrug.

"Let's just get on with it." Montagne said as his gaze shifted over to Blitz, who had dropped his shield and was now doing a victory dance at the finish line.

Fuze had finally calmed down and both him and Montagne had been checked out by the GIGN's very own Doc to ensure that the effects of the German's shield had worn off. They then regrouped again on the training floor for the final test: placement.

Thatcher was leaning up against an empty wall while on one side of the room was Tachanka's turret while Blackbeard manned it.

"Okay, so for the final test, our navy SEAL friend here will fire as many rubber bullets as he can at you while you charge at him with your shield raised until you are five meters away. Whoever takes the least amount of hits will win. If it's a tie, then we will rerun the test until one becomes a winner." The SAS veteran explained. "Clear?"

The three men nodded while Blackbeard held a menacing grin on his face. "Okay, Fuze, you're up first so put your shield up and wait for my go."

"3,2,1,go!" Thatcher yelled. Immediately, Fuze crouched and held his shield up as the rubber bullets bombarded his handheld defence. He got greedy though and started to run, only to catch three rounds to the feet where he went back to crouching. He eventually made it to the mark in front of Blackbeard, who stopped firing and waited for Thatcher to assess the damage.

"Okay, you got hit three times. Blitz, you're next."

The German smirked to himself as he took his mark. All he had to do was hit the flash feature on his shield and it would be all over, declaring him the best of the three. Thatcher counted down and announced for him to go, which prompted Blitz to activate his shield. He had overestimated its effective range however, and only succeeded in annoying Blackbeard, prompting him to put two rounds in Blitz's feet and one in his shoulder when he had tried to run.

"Sorry Blitz, but it looks like Fuze did better. He only got hit in the feet whereas you took one in the shoulder. In a real combat situation, you'd need immediate medical attention and probably be taken out of action." Thatcher said with an apologetic expression.

Blitz sighed as Montagne took his mark and readied himself.

"3,2,1, go!" Thatcher shouted again. Before Blackbeard could even pull on the turret's trigger, the Frenchman had extended his shield to offer full body protection, covering his feet, arms, hands, head and body. The navy SEAL tried to aim for any unprotected spots, but only managed to hit metal and bulletproof glass.

Montagne marched right up to the marker and let Blackbeard completely empty the rest of the ammo before taking the final step to victory.

Thatcher shrugged and looked over at the other two competitors. "He wins."

"But he cheated!" Fuze declared.

"Ja, but so did you!" Blitz argued.

"Don't think you're so innocent either, Blitz." Montagne quipped back as he turned to face his teammates.

All three men shouted and argued with each other until Thatcher's voice boomed out over all of them.

"SHUT UP!" They all then stood at attention as if being addressed by a superior officer, even though he was their equal. "Don't you understand? This is why you were all recruited for Team Rainbow. Not just because of your combat skills, but also for your personalities." He said calmly. "Montagne, you possess a protective nature over all of us, whether you recognize it or not." The Frenchman opened his mouth to interject, but Thatcher ignored him. "Blitz, your ability to use humor to calm everyone else down is key in high-tension situations. And Fuze, the fact that you can fix just about anything makes you a very valuable asset. Without our equipment, we're nothing." He stated. "No one of you is better than the other and no one is crap. So stop trying to prove like you're top of the food chain and focus on your job: being yourselves and taking down the white mask threat."

The three men sheepishly looked at one another and nodded and Thatcher. "Yes sir." They said in unison.

Thatcher smiled and headed back to the firing range. "The only thing I'm judging now is going to be beauty contests."


End file.
